THE LIFE OF PAOLO SARPL* PAOLO Saari is one of
those figures in history whose celebrity 'derives no little of its fascination from mysteriousness. His fame is due more to the pervading sense of his eminence than to clear
• La Vita di Fry, Paolo Barpi. Per A. G. Campbell, da MSS. Origbuill. Firenze, Torino, e Boma. 1575.
knowledge of its actual nature. That though a friar, he proved a forinidable antagonist to the Court of Rome in its pretensions to dictate in matters of State, and that he became the object of a criminal attempt on his life, which produced throughout Europe the sensation of a public shock, are facts of general notoriety. Lord Macaulay indeed could boast of having read twice from end to end Fra Paolo's History of the Council of Trent, but it may be confidently affirmed that popular acquaintance with his writings is confined to an impression that they are unpleasantly adverse to the Court of Rome. Yet that Sarpi was a man of quite trans- cendent qualities is a fact which it requires a mere glance at con- temporary records to verify. The letters of the greatest intellects in every country in Europe testify to the reverent regard in which he was held by contemporaries as a fountain of wisdom and of learning. To have the benefit of approaching and of discoursing with this sage was by the highest and the greatest in mind and rank deemed a privilege worthy of pilgrimage to Venice. Again, that most jealous commonwealth, discarding for once its inveterate dread of recognising the superiority of a citizen, surrounded the Servite monk with special honours, as a man of quite exceptional value to the State. The biography of such a man can never fail to be of interest, but there are special reasons why it should be so at present. There is not a little in the questions of the hour which bears an analogy to those Fra Paolo had to deal with. The conflict that has broken out between civil powers and the authority enthroned in Rome re- sembles in many points struggles which engaged a large portion of Fra Paolo's attention. It was, therefore, with deep interest that we opened this new life of the Venetian monk, for we were aware that the authoress had been in a position to work on docu- mentary records that had not been within the reach of previous biographers, and although her first publication in English had been disappointing, we hoped she might have now turned to better account her valuable materials in this Italian version. We regret to say that our hopes have not been realised. We admit that the authoress has conscientiously striven to do her best, but that best is not what might have been expected from one favoured with such advantages. For any one wholly un- acquainted with Sarpi's life as already written, this volume will, no doubt, be of interest. But we have failed to detect in these pages a single new point not previously known, while, in our opinion, this second-hand narrative repeatedly omits notice of characteristic matters which would have given life and colour to an otherwise meagre, and in part even imperfect, statement. We cannot help expressing also astonishment that when writers like St. Augustine, Baronius, and Gibbon are enumerated in a list of authorities consulted, all mention of so meritorious a biographer as Bianchi-Giovine should have been omitted. If Miss Campbell is, however, not new, she has literal accuracy to recommend her as far as she goes, and her volume cannot be denied the merit of bringing before the public in a readable, though not particularly brilliant form, certain well-ascertained facts relating to the life of a singularly enigmatic individual.
Manifold as are the circumstances on account of which Sarpi's character cannot be otherwise than an object of curious study, the central interest in the problem must rest in the relation in which he stood towards the ecclesiastical system culminating in the Papacy,—in the solution of what was the inner thought on the great topics of religious belief, then rending asunder the world which really swayed the guarded mind of the official theologian of a Catholic State,—of the monk who, though in close intercourse with renowned Protestant controversialists and an active opponent of many Roman pretensions, yet never manifested the slightest overt desire to relieve himself of the obligations of his professions. Was this indefatigable servant of his country in the fight for its civil independence from Papal dictation, the steady coun- sellor of defiance against the full weight of Interdict, actuated by inward sympathy with the religious fervour which quickened the zeal of the Northern Reformers, men seized with a burning impulse to preach what they believed to be the one truth of God against the rampant system of idolatry? or was he at heart a sceptic as to the real value of the doctrine at issue, and in his soul calmly indifferent, under his monk's cowl, to all except certain worldly interests which he thought likely to be best promoted at the time through the action of particular parties ? In a word, this Friar Paul, who to the end of his days saw fit to bear himself before the world as a member of a religious order, though he lived on terms of intellectual intimacy with declared Reformers, was he in his conscience a Catholic, though an indifferent Papist, or a crypto-Protestant, or a callous disbeliever in all sacred mysteries, for whom Catholic and Protestant elements were but figures upon
the chess-board of human affairs? The answer to this enigma will hardly be found in Miss Campbell's pages, though she is ready enough to assert in her own way the Catholic orthodoxy of Sarpi's convictions. To ascertain the inner thoughts of this singularly vizored intellect—one combining the natural wiliness of the Italian with the reserve characteristic of the Venetian official and the cautiousness of the priest—it would be necessary to overhear its intercommunings with its own self. It does happen that Fra Paolo was prone, with his extraordinary mental activity, to write down his thoughts in his cell, and that not a few of these interesting ejaculations have been preserved, but Miss Campbell has apparently not understood how to decipher the meaning of anything which does not stand written in the plainest terms.
The capital incident in Sarpi's life is, of course, his attempted assassination, and the assumed complicity of Rome with this crime. The profound impression produced, not merely in Venice, but throughout Europe, by this deed was such as to have enduringly affected the popular imagination, and te have preserved for posterity the memory of a man about whom comparatively little is known. Next to the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, there is no outrage to which it is so generally believed that Rome was privy as this attempt on Sarpi's life. What was originally but an im- pression, more or less freely given expression to by hostile minds, has certainly not been impaired by the evidence which subsequent criticism has collected in regard to the facts connected with this deliberate attempt at murder. Though obscurity hangs around much of Sarpi's life, there is little or none about the circum- stances attending this passage in it. From documentary re- cords of undeniable accuracy, we are admitted to a full sight of the individuals who perpetrated the deed, and we are enabled to trace step by step their movements before and after the same. Criticism will plead that there is no proof of direct communication between Paul V. and the would-be assassins, but it cannot impugn the fact of their having proceeded from Rome, and of their having been subsequently protected and sheltered by Cardinals and the public officers of the Pope in his dominions. On September 29, 1609, the Venetian Ambassador in Rome, Contarini, transmitted a detailed report of a communica- tion relating to an enterprise in course of concoction for execu- tion in Venice, which apparently was to be "some murder." On October 5, Fra Paolo was stabbed in the neck as he was returning to his convent from the Ducal Palace. There were several assassins, and they succeeded in escaping ia the dark to a boat, which was ready at hand, and which carried them quickly out of the limits of the Republic. It is established beyond the possi- bility of question that they tied to the Roman States, that with- out pretence of disguise they were permitted to reside in them for a while, that they even showed themselves publicly in Rome, that they bad notorious intercourse with prelates of position, that they were admitted into the household of Princes of the Church and provided with a Papal safe-conduct, and that when finally some amongst them were immured in Roman prisons, this happened only after they had begun to become inconveniently noisy in their demands for remuneration affirmed to have been with- held in violation of promises. The chief actor in the plot was one Ridolfo Poma, a bankrupt trader who had absconded from Venice. It is proved that in Rome he was in close relations with a Venetian priest called Franceschi, who appears throughout to have been a prime mover in the conspiracy, and certainly lived on terms of familiarity with Cardinal Borghese. From Rome the destitute bankrupt undeniably went forth on his expedition furnished with ample means to hire a band of helpmates, to freight a sailing-vessel, and to prepare everything that might be needful to secure escape in the event of failure. All was organised with the completeness which the free command of money alone can provide. No sooner did Poma and his associates reach in their flight the Papal territory, than they publicly travelled on their way to Ancona with arms, on the strength of a special per- mission to wear them from the Pontifical authorities, and this although two of the band were themselves old outlaws in the Papal States. Also, ibis on record that at Ancona, Poma received from the priest Franceschi a draft for 1,000 crowns, which was cashed through Girolamo Scalamonti, the Papal Treasurer. It would appear also that another confederate, the priest Viti, who had been specially employed to dog Sarpi, certainly resided for some time in the house of Cardinal Colonna. That ulti- mately most of the principal agents were got rid of by im- prisonment on various counts is not sufficient to dispel sus- picion of connivance with this deed. That they had been the perpetrators was matter of public knowledge. Yet never was the slightest show made by the Papal authorities of bringing them to justice on this charge. On the contrary, when these men were taken up, it was by the myrmidons of the Inquisition, for reasons that were not made public. Secretly they were removed out of sight, to be dealt with in secrecy, as might be most convenient to an inscrutable authority, that had at its disposal the impenetrable machinery of the Sant' Uffizio.
It would be a task worthy of an historian to inla seg,ate and to define the grounds why, in the eyes of Rome, Sarpi was con- sidered so dangerous, as undoubted:y he was, quite irresca c- tive of this particular outrage. The animosity of the Roman Curialiats was concentrated against this Venetian friar with a persistent fury such as was directed against no other Italian opponent of Papal pretensions. And yet the Papal See never ventured on fulminating against this object of its aversion the bans so frequently launched against others; nor, on the other hand, did this Friar, though perfectly aware of how he WAS regarded by Rome, ever exhibit the least public disposition to deviate from the prescribed routine of his religious engagements. When his life was pronounced to be in imminent danger from his wounds, he sought the ministrations of the Church with unaffected devoutness ; and when at a later period his days were ebbing fast under the weight of incurable sickness, he continued, as long as strength permitted, still to read his mass and to perform his regular devotions. What, then, was there in this quiet and retired monk, who never cared to make himself a public character, which induced the See of Rome to single him out for such marked ill-will? And again, wherein lay the reason that distinguished men from all countries concurred in looking up to him as a man of singular eminence and supreme strength of mind ? Probably the solution of the enigma will be found in the circum- stance that Sarpi, of all Italian opponents of Rome, alone possessed that power of silent, inward concentration of mind and thought which makes the wise, judicious, and manful counsellor, who is fit to guide to a contemplated result, with quick and un- faltering eye, through the perilous rapids of stormy times, and who never wastes his energy in empty blows. Such a man was William of Orange, with his silent, unostentatious, but subtle intrepidity; and between the characters of William of Orange and of Fra Paolo there was no little analogy. This fact Rome recognised, and with correct instinct dreaded him, as a truly formidable danger to her- self. But William of Orange happily found himself allied with elements that were ultimately adequate to success, whereas Fra Paolo Sarpi found himself yoked to a State which, notwithstand- ing its pride, failed in the vigour needful to carry out the practical consummation of what was involved in the spirit of its great counsellor. Therefore of him may be written as an epitaph, Slat nominis umbra.
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